Dempster edges Endura closer to Halfords Tour Series triumph

Zak Dempster put in one of the most dominant displays of riding in Halfords Tour Series history, featuring throughout the Woking round to seal the Boardman Bikes Sprint honours on the evening, plus the individual win.

Victory in Woking is added to his win in May at Canary Wharf, plus victory in Durham in 2011 to make him a treble Tour Series victor.

“I felt quite good tonight,” said Zak Dempster. “We tried to get on the front foot. There is no point riding negatively now, even though we’ve got a good lead, anything can happen. Crashes, illness, anything can happen. It’s important we ride on the front foot. We did that and you can’t get much better than that really.

“I was trying to ride aggressively and the horn sounded a couple of times when I was attacking on the front and on the last sprint, I think I won that too when I was just really trying to spread the group out. There are so many corners on a course like this, you’re better going off the front if you’ve got the legs to do it and I did.”

Looking ahead to the final round in Stoke-on-Trent, which features for the first time a team time trial named in honour of the city’s famous cycling son Tommy Godwin, Dempster explains his, and Endura’s, approach.

“You’ve just got to keep the engine running. Tomorrow will be a mini training day in Abergavenny then we head over to Stoke on Thursday morning.

“A team time trial is different in a criterium course but we’re a team of pretty good criterium riders so we should be good. Two races to go, we’re not going to take the gas off and let anyone get away from us. We’ve got two races on Thursday and we’re going to try and win both of them.”

Also taking the honours in Woking was compatriot Bernard Sulzberger of Team Raleigh – GAC, now a familiar sight in the yellow Boardman Bikes Sprints Jersey.

The Tasmanian former Australian Criterium Champion has impressed throughout the 2012 Series, doing enough in Woking to secure the Boardman Bikes jersey, regardless of events in The Potteries.

“It’s good, I don’t really have to sprint anymore but I’ll still go for the win on Thursday. It’s our last opportunity to get a team win as well so we’ll definitely be going for that,” said Bernard Sulzberger.

“Time Trials are not really my forte but it’s a sprint more than a time trial so we should do ok.

“I am feeling ok. I got a bit sick halfway through the Series and I was starting to struggle in a few rounds but I think I am back on form now.”

“It’s the travelling and late nights that makes it hard, you get run down. But it’s the same for everyone so that’s just the way it is. But if I get something out of it (the yellow jersey) then it’s more than worth it.”